


For A Change

by AtropaAzraelle (Polyoxyethylene)



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Chill XV, I will not apologise for this being dreadfully cute, Ignis says embarrassing things when he's doped up, M/M, Sickfic, brotherhood era, diabetes warning, dreadfully cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 08:32:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11940333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polyoxyethylene/pseuds/AtropaAzraelle
Summary: Ignis has to endure the inconvenience of being tended to by someone else. Much cuteness ensues.





	For A Change

**Author's Note:**

  * For [banjkazfan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/banjkazfan/gifts).



“Your eyes are really pretty.”

Gladio chewed his lip in a desperate bid to keep the smirk off his face at the dreamy tone to the rather croaky voice beside him. It wasn't working.

“Like honey and fire.”

“Get some rest, Iggy,” he said, trying his damnedest to concentrate on the road ahead and not the semi-incoherent rambling of a man that was still dopey from anaesthetic.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

Gladio inhaled deeply. He shouldn't encourage this. It was adorable as hell, and seeing Ignis muddled and soft and helpless made him want to snuggle him into his arms and coo over him like a puppy that hasn't figured out how legs work. If Ignis remembered any of this, he would murder Gladio in his sleep, not brutally, but surely and efficiently. “Yeah, I do,” he answered.

“He's lucky,” Ignis said, lolling his head back against the window and smiling. “I have a boyfriend,” he said, as if he was confiding in Gladio. “He's amazing.” 

Gladio couldn't restrain his grin any longer as the lights went green and he took the car forwards. A moment later there was an audible sniff and Ignis said, “I love him so much.”

“I'm right here, Iggy,” Gladio replied, sparing his passenger a glance. He wasn't sure what he was going to be more dead for; letting Ignis talk so much, or what he was talking about. The doctor had advised he not try to speak for a couple of days.

A tonsillectomy at nineteen. Ignis had been mortified. He'd spent month after month reeling from repeated throat infections until finally Gladio had made the appointment with the doctor for him, and made him go. How Ignis had battled his way through raging fevers and swollen glands, and periods where he couldn't swallow much more than soup, and stew, and ice cream, while keeping on top of his work was beyond Gladio, but he'd managed, somehow. He'd have carried on managing too, Gladio knew, if he hadn't stepped in.

The doctor had advised a tonsillectomy because the infections were recurring so often. It would mean two weeks off work, and days of not being able to talk, or eat properly. Ignis had been against it until Gladio had, not unfairly, pointed out that Ignis was enduring this anyway with his infections. And that Noct _probably_ wasn't going to catch fire if Ignis didn't run around after him for two weeks, but Ignis could work from home, in bed, tucked up comfortably with Gladio looking after him, and then he'd never have to live on soup and ice cream again.

He'd relented, after some pleading and earnest promises not to let Noct run loose in the time he'd be out of commission. Gladio had sworn it, sworn to whatever Ignis wanted if it would get him to agree so that he never had to drop by Iggy's apartment again to find him sucking on throat sweets and croaking like a frog, and the operation had been booked. It would be a general anaesthetic, but he'd be home the same day, they'd been promised, unless there were complications. Ignis had driven to the hospital, knowing that Gladio would be driving him back. He might still be a little loopy from the anaesthetic, they'd warned, so he'd need someone to take him home and stay with him.

Loopy didn't even begin to cover it. Ignis wiped clumsily at his cheek with one hand, knocking his glasses askew and not bothering to correct them. “You won't leave me, will you?” he asked, a tremor in his voice that had little to do with whatever pain Ignis was causing by talking that he was still too doped up to feel and much more to do with the emotional state he was getting himself into. “I need to wait for him, but I don't think I should be alone.”

“Ignis,” Gladio said, trying so hard not to laugh, “ _I'm_ your boyfriend.”

This information seemed to take Ignis by surprise and he lifted his head up to look at Gladio. “You are?”

“Yup,” Gladio confirmed, keeping his eye on the road, but he could still see the movement from Ignis at the periphery of his vision. Ignis rested his head against the car seat, looking at Gladio as if he was seeing him for the first time.

“Wow,” he said, sounding stunned. “I'm _so lucky_.”

Gladio couldn't help himself. He laughed, and grinned, and privately lamented that he was driving so he couldn't record this and show it to Ignis later. Sure, Ignis would gut him like a fish for it, but it'd be worth it just to have a permanent record of Ignis in his doped up happy state marvelling at how pretty Gladio's eyes were. “You sure are,” he agreed.

Ignis had drifted into a comfortable doze by the time Gladio got him back home. He parked, and walked around the car, and opened the door. He had to help Ignis unbuckle his seatbelt, and then he had to help him clamber out of the car, a task that would have been easy if Ignis was a child, but was much more difficult when he was six feet of lithe muscle and long limbs. The only reason Gladio didn't just pick him up to carry him inside was that Ignis would have been horrified to think they might be seen, so instead he helped him walk on unco-ordinated legs until they were through the door.

 _Then_ he picked Ignis up in both of his arms and carried him through to the bedroom. Ignis looped his arms around Gladio's neck and held on as he was transported, dozy but comfortable. Gladio put him down on the bed gently, slipping free of Ignis's grip as he moved down the bed to remove his shoes for him.

Ignis watched him with a hazy smile, his face lighting up when Gladio moved back up the bed to plant a soft kiss to his forehead. “Get some rest,” he instructed, removing Ignis's glasses and folding them on the nightstand before tucking Ignis's hair behind his ear for him, “and don't speak. Once the anaesthetic wears off it'll hurt.”

“Are you staying with me?” Ignis asked.

“All week,” Gladio confirmed, with a nod. Ignis opened his mouth to say something else, and Gladio placed two fingers over his mouth, an action that seemed to stun Ignis into closing his mouth under them. “I'll stay for two if you promise me you won't talk,” he offered. “Can you do that?”

Ignis seemed to think about it for a moment before he nodded, silently, Gladio's fingers still held against his lips. “Good,” Gladio said, and removed his fingers to lean down and press his lips against Ignis's instead. He pulled back to see Ignis had closed his eyes, and when he opened them again he wore that hazy, happy expression he'd gained when he'd seen Gladio after waking up. “Now get some sleep,” he said. “I have some painkillers for when you wake up.”

Ignis nodded again, and Gladio stroked his cheek with his thumb before he bent down to press another kiss to Ignis's forehead. He helped Ignis get comfortable on the bed, adjusting his pillow and pulling a light blanket over him before he retreated to Ignis's kitchen. Ignis had prepared for the aftermath of his operation. His freezer was stocked with what had to be home made ice cream, and ice pops. Gladio could smell the coffee in one of the tubs, and it made him grin again. There was soup, too, made, and frozen, so all Gladio would have to do would be melt it down and heat it up.

The fridge was similarly prepared, although this also held a few beers that were most certainly not for Ignis's own consumption, and a glass jar filled with noodles and vegetables. Stuck to it was a note.

_Gladio_  
Boil water  
Fill to the line  
Close the lid  
Wait three minutes  
Add flavour sachet to taste  
Enjoy 

_Thank you_

Gladio took it out, amused. Ignis disapproved of his love of cup noodles, or rather, he viewed cup noodles as an acceptable thing to consume on occasion, but had voiced the opinion, repeatedly, that Gladio was going to ruin his palate and his heart if he continued to eat them as often as he did. Gladio had countered that Ignis was going to do the same with his full blown dependence on Ebony coffee.

Unless Gladio was very much mistaken, Ignis had taken his morning to make a fresh alternative to cup noodles for him. He'd threatened to do it before, and Gladio had teased that not even Ignis could best the real thing. Ignis had clearly taken that for the challenge it was.

Gladio followed the instructions, although he knew the routine and could probably follow them in his sleep, and then he took his noodles to Ignis's sofa, and switched on the news while he ate. He kept the volume low, so he could hear any suspicious noises from the bedroom that would indicate Ignis wasn't resting like he'd been told. Ignis had initially only wanted him to stay for the first two days, adamant that he'd be back on his feet and just fine by then. Gladio had pushed it to a week, pointing out that the doctors had warned it might take longer, and that the worst that would happen if they planned for longer would be that they got to spend some time together.

Ignis had been amenable to that argument, but he'd been determined that Gladio would be keeping an eye on Noct in his stead in that time. As a result, the crown prince of Lucis had received a lengthy series of reminder texts from Ignis this morning about all the things he was, and wasn't, supposed to do, and he'd received a much shorter, more bluntly written one from Gladio the night before.

“If I have to leave Iggy to come running after you the way he does, you'll regret it every time you sit down for the next month.”

Noct's reply at the time had been a simple, to the point, “Understood.” This morning, however, before Ignis had gone in, he'd received, “Take care of him, big guy.”

Gladio gave it a couple of hours before he went back into the bedroom. Ignis was curled up into his pillows and snoring lightly. The doctor had warned he might, until the swelling in his throat had gone down.

“Iggy?” He perched himself on the edge of the bed and reached out to stroke Ignis's hair behind his ear. He wore his hair styled, and Gladio loved how put together Ignis always looked, but he especially loved how soft and young Ignis looked first thing in the morning. He loved the contrast of it, and knowing that no one, absolutely no one but him, had ever seen Ignis Scientia barefoot in his pyjama pants, curled up on his sofa, hair unbrushed, glasses resting on the table, and his first coffee of the day in his hands.

“Iggy,” he called the name a little more loudly, stroking his fingers over Ignis's cheek and tapping the tip of his nose. Ignis had suffered an awkward adolescence, Gladio remembered. He'd needed antibiotics for the acne, and he'd shot up to six feet tall without broadening to match it, making him look like a speckled string bean, all gangly limbs and bad skin and spectacles. He still bore the scars on his neck and cheeks, but once the antibiotics had dealt with the acne, exercise and some new glasses had turned a stringy nerd into, well, _this_. Broad shoulders, and fine features, and more grace and poise than a gymnast.

Some things had remained the same, though. He still had those beautiful green eyes. Gladio had thought Ignis was kinda cute even when he'd been all awkward limbs and spots, and he'd had beautiful eyes, and a hot accent, and a sharp way of looking at the world that Gladio had realised he'd been falling for even back then. When Ignis had turned seventeen, and showed up to collect Noct one day in a sharp suit, with his hair slicked back, and his new glasses, Gladio had nearly swallowed his tongue. He'd seen Ignis a couple of days a week in the training room, swelling muscle on show as he panted and sweated his way through a routine, and he'd thought he was hot. He'd hung out with Ignis, smart slacks and a pressed shirt to Gladio's hoodie and baseball cap, and he'd thought he was smart, and funny.

It was when he'd been pinned to the floor, after Ignis had used his training lance to flip over Gladio's head and avoid a strike, and then took his knees out from under him, that Gladio had known he was done for. Ignis's triumphant smirk had been the final nail in that particular coffin, as he'd held the tip of his training lance to Gladio's throat, chest heaving with the exertion.

He'd asked Ignis to join him for a drink after they'd showered. It wasn't anything new for them by that point, so of course Ignis had agreed, but a drink had become two, and then three, and then they'd walked home together to Ignis's place. Gladio had been ready to leave, wondering if they could do this more often, if he could work up to delicately finding out if Ignis was even into men that way, when Ignis had asked if he'd eaten, and invited him inside.

Ignis had made them pizza, just made it, from scratch, as if it was no big deal, and Gladio had helped, which on that occasion had meant getting in the way and somehow spilling tomato sauce over the counter, until Ignis had shooed him out of the kitchen.

“Can I ask you something?” he'd asked, watching Ignis put the pizza in to finally cook.

“Of course.”

“Can I kiss you?”

Ignis had looked at him with such a wide eyed, stunned expression that Gladio had mentally kicked himself, and was lining up his apologies already. He'd been preparing to tell Ignis that it was the drink talking, that it was inappropriate of him, to forget it.

“Of course.”

Gladio had felt like his heart had stopped, and then the pizza had nearly got forgotten about. By then Gladio was already pretty sure that nothing could be as delicious as the look on Iggy's face when he was pressed hard against his kitchen counter, his glasses slightly askew, and his pressed shirt rumpled and ridden up.

They'd eaten the pizza, and Gladio had gone home even though he hadn't really wanted to, but he'd asked Ignis out again a couple of nights later, and then again, and again, and now here he was, sitting on the edge of the bed, utterly and hopelessly in love with someone that, doped up on drugs, had seemed genuinely stunned that it was possible Gladio loved him.

“Wakey wakey, sleeping beauty,” he said, when Ignis stirred, tucking further into the pillows. His answer was a croak, and then a wince. “Don't try to talk, you did a bit too much of that on the way back.” Ignis's brow furrowed as he opened his eyes and peered up at Gladio.

“Welcome back,” Gladio said, recognising that this was Ignis with most of his mental faculties back in functioning order. He looked groggy, but he'd get over it.

Ignis sat up, wincing again as he did, and Gladio could see the red lines in his face left by the creases in the pillow. He leaned back against the headboard, brow still furrowed in the fog of artificially induced sleepiness, and tapped the outside of his left wrist, throwing Gladio a questioning look.

“A little after six,” Gladio answered. Then he picked up the glass he'd brought in with him. It clinked with ice. “Sip it, remember,” he warned.

Ignis took the glass, and flashed a look at him that said, in no uncertain terms, that Ignis remembered. He lifted the glass to his lips and took a small sip, wincing as he swallowed, but he took another small sip afterwards, and the wince then wasn't as bad.

“Thanks for the noodles,” Gladio said, smiling at him. Ignis gave a small nod of acknowledgement. “They were pretty good,” Gladio continued.

Ignis gave him a look so flat it had probably been steamrollered, and Gladio returned the expression with a bright grin. “You're never going to beat actual cup noodles, you know that right?” Ignis arched an eyebrow at him and returned to sipping his water.

“Do you feel like anything to eat?” Gladio asked. He'd been advised to avoid hot things for the first couple of days. Cold things would help reduce the swelling and pain, and the risk of any bleeding. Fortunately, Ebony also came in cans, or Gladio would have to be caring for a silent, unwell, _caffeine-withdrawn_ Ignis, and that kind of thing would sorely test any relationship.

Ignis shook his head, and then put the glass down on the nightstand and retrieved his glasses, and the pad of paper and pencil he'd put there. He wrote, and Gladio waited until the paper was turned around for him to read.

_How's Noct?_

Gladio expected as much. “Checked in with him an hour ago. He's reading that report you gave him yesterday.” Ignis raised an eyebrow in an expression of pure scepticism, and Gladio shrugged. “I might have told him that if he couldn't answer questions on it tomorrow I'd make him run defence drills for a week solid.”

That earned a much more believing nod, and a small smile. Ignis returned to his pad, the pencil scratching over the paper before he turned it around once more.

_Thank you for offering to look after me. You didn't have to._

“Iggy,” Gladio replied, “you spend all your time running around after everyone else, it's about time you let someone else take care of you for a bit.” That statement earned a dissatisfied frown and a slight huff. Gladio reached out and stroked his thumb over Ignis's cheek. “Besides, it's not like I could say no to someone that thinks my eyes are pretty,” he said, a teasing grin forming before he added, “like honey and fire.” 

Ignis's eyes went wide, and Gladio saw a flush crawl up his cheeks before the back of a hand came up and smacked him, deceptively hard, in the shoulder. Gladio only laughed before he leaned in and pressed a soft, chaste kiss to Ignis's lips. When he pulled away, Ignis continued to look embarrassed, though there was a soft warmth to it that suggested it would fade. 

“I love you too,” Gladio said, in answer. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank for reading, comments and kudos appreciated as always, and a huge thanks to Banjkazfan for helping me get my writing mojo going again.
> 
> If you've ever seen the video of the guy coming down from anaesthesia that is just stunned that this gorgeous lady he's asking out is already his wife, then you'll know where some of the inspiration for this came from.


End file.
